Potato and cheese pierogi the american way – homemade cheddar pierogi

I’ve once googled ‘potato and cheese pierogi’, to see, to my surprise, that a lot of them call for cheddar cheese. I’ve neved though to make the potato and cheese pierogi this way. Traditionally we use a white cheese – polish ‘twaróg’. Twaróg is a soft, curd cheese, slightly sour. It’s similar to farmer’s cheese in taste but doesn’t resemble cheddar cheese’s taste at all (though both are very tasty). Cheddar cheese is not easy to get in Poland. Now it‘s available is some big markets, but some years ago not really. A couple of years ago I didn’t even know that cheddar cheese exists. Potato and ‚yellow‘ cheese is such a classic combination, one of the best, so I thought, it must be good. And guess what, it was! Soo good. I was really suprised.

I also tried making it with swiss cheese (Emmental cheese) and a bit of rosemary, cooked with onion in butter. The rosemary takes these simple ingredients to the next level. These pierogi are really so tasty and comforting!

I still like the traditional potato and cheese pierogi (pierogi ruskie) better, mainly because they remind me of my childhood. My boyfriend on the other hand, has said that that were the best pierogi that he has ever eaten and my 20-months old daughter has eaten 10 pierogi (I don‘t even know how that‘s possible!). I encourage you to make pierogi at home, from scratch, it‘s a bit time consuming, but very easy to do and worth every minute of that time!

to serve:

Instructions

Cook the potatoes until tender. While still warm, mash them into puree, set aside to cool.

Grate the cheese on the big holes of the grater.

Finely chop the onion and rosemary needles. Heat the butter in a frying pan and cook the onion with rosemary over medium heat, along with a pinch of salt, until soft (but be careful not to brown or burn it). Set aside to cool.

Mix all the ingredients for the filling together (mashed potatoes, cooked onion with rosemary, grated cheese), season with salt and pepper to taste.

Thinly roll out the dough (but not too thin) to a thickness of approx. 2 mm / 1/10 inch. Using a pierogi / pastry cutter / a cup cut out rounds. Using a teaspoon, apply the filling on each round. Fold over and press the edges to seal.

Cook the dumplings in a large amount of salted water, about 10 pieces at a time. Dump them in a pot of boling water, when they float to the water surface cook them for 2 minutes.

Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, drain well, transfer to a plate.

They taste best served with melted butter. You can also make rosemary butter, by frying a rosemary twig in butter. Serve the pierogi spooned with this aromatic butter.

Enjoy!

Notes

How to store the pierogi: If you’re not serving the pierogi right away, you need to coat them in melted butter so that the don’t stick to each other. On the next day pan fry them until golden.

Freezing: Place the dumplings apart (raw or cooked) on a tray, well-sprinkled with flour. Put in the freezer. When frozen, transfer into containers or freezer bags. Cook them like fresh dumplings, without thawing, but fewer pieces at once (about 8 pierogi at a time). When the pierogi float to the water surface – cooked frozen pierogi are done and raw frozen pierogi need to be cooked for 2 minutes.

Did you make this recipe? Let mi know how you liked it in the comments below!

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About Me

Hi! I‘m Aleksandra. I believe you should eat delicious food every day! I create quick, simple and sometimes fancy recipes with easy to follow descriptions and step-by-step photos, that every home cook can make. Find out more about me.